Electrical gremlin

I am having some electrical challenges with a 1982 400 Maxim. I just finished a “freshening up”, and noticed that the turn indicators are not flashing, they just stay on constant when the switch is either left or right and the neutral indicator blinks once but does not stay on when the bike is in neutral. When checking with my fluke I’m getting a momentary continuity signal so I‘m certain something electrical is the culprit. All bulbs in the instrument cluster have been changed to led which may be a factor.

 

The original flasher unit uses the current pull of all the globes to, generally if it's bimetal, heat up the bimetal strip and disconnect the bulbs until it cools down again... and away the flashing goes...
If you replace some of the globes with LED it isn't going to pull the same current so... not so flash(haha get it!)
Replace all the globes, in the indicators also, and get a LED flash unit replacement.

As far as the neutral indicator is concerned your in the same sort of situation as the current flowing through the switch is minimal in comparison to using an incandescent globe. I have the same issue with my neutral light, bit finicky... (I have replaced all the globes everywhere, including the headlight with LED)

 

does your cluster have 1 indicator bulb for the blinkers?

you will need to add diodes for the indicator to work or a bi-directional led bulb.

superbright sells what they call a metric diode kit.
xjs with single indicator bulbs the indicator grounds through the blinker bulb that is not being used

look at this link it shows the wiring needed
https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/flashers-load-resistors/metric-bike-diode-kit/1190/2805/

if your not running led blinkers ust switch back to the normal bulb for indicator.

I only go to leds i do it for the always on lights. The back lights of the meter are always on

 

Let me get on this topic so that I do not create a new one.

I have done a similar thing where I changed my turn signals to aftermarket ones that come with different bulbs (basically smaller and 10W instead of the ususal 27W) and when I turn the signals only one side lights up but doesn't blink.

When I switch the bulbs to LED ones, all 4 light up and not blink which seems like similar issue to Robert's. In this case I would need to use something like the diode kit for it to work, right?

I would rather stick to the bulbs but they just don't blink, I assume becasue they draw less power and the original flasher does not work with them. I tried using aftermarket flasher (3 PIN, cf13 jl-02) but it makes it so that the blinkers do not come on at all.
Could that also be caused by the single bulb in the instrument cluster?

I would stick to the OEM bulbs but they do not fit in the new housings (bulbs are too long).

 

The original flasher is not bimetallic, but it does depend on the current draw of the lamps to set its flash interval.

To switch to LEDs, you would have to either add load resistors so the whole setup still draws 27W per corner, or switch to an electronic flasher - either disabling the auto-cancel system, or adding a relay so it can be maintained.

And, yes, for the single indicator clusters, you would also need to add diodes to reconfigure the indicator so that it has a ground path that does not go through the non-flashing side lamps.

 

For the OP, there are a couple of things to consider:

If the battery is a bit low, the lamps may not flash until the engine is revved up a bit... usually over 2K RPM. Do yours flash at higher RPM, or if a battery charger is connected?

Not sure about the neutral lamp acting like that.I would have expected a bad neutral switch, a bad lamp socket, or a bad connection somewhere, as that lamp is normally lit just from 12V (Br) and ground through the switch (Sb). Maybe the XJ400 is different?

 

As to the diode kit, I am not from the US so I can’t buy it. How would I replicate this using separate components?

 

just get 2 rectifier diodes and connect them as shown in superbright link

 

Any 1A rectifiers should be fine. Something like a 1N4001 is very common. Any electronic components supply store should have them.

 

Great, they're dirt cheap.

So that setup that is shown in their diagram, it would be best to wire that in next to the dash light, right?

 

Okay, I sorted it out.

Turns out the flasher relay I bought that I said was not working, is now working correctly no matter what type of bulb or LED bulb I put in the indicators.

I simply mistook one of the wires going to the flasher relay connector for ground when in reality it was connected to the auto-cancel module.

I swapped this wire in the connector to a new wire that is ground and everything works as intended. This of course means no auto-cancel anymore.

I also bought some diodes (0.025$ each )and replicated the setup seen on superbright.com so now my dash indicator light is also working as intedned and it flashes together with the blinkers.

Perhaps I will figure out a way to make the auto-cancel work as well but for the time being I am happy.

Thanks guys for all the suggestions.

 

there is a thread on leds with the fix for the self canceler

 

Curious if your lights all blink properly with bike running? I switched to LED turn signals front and back, and installed a metric diode kit up front to get rid of the 4 way light issue, also installed a new LED flasher relay, deleting the self cancelling unit and using that wire to send to ground. Blinkers work perfectly with bike off. Start her up and at idle they blink completely random and erratically... While riding if I have a blinker on and I'm on the throttle, say 3k rpm or higher, then most of the time they'll flash normal. Come to a stop and the bike idles, they flash crazy again... Have tried a few things and still no solution that I have found.

 

HCP25332 Aftermarket solid-state turn signal FLASHER. For all XJ550, XJ650, all XJ750 non-X, all XJ900RK, RL, and N/FN models, and XJ1100 models. These units will work with both incandescent and LED signal bulbs. Plugs directly into the stock wiring harness 3-place flasher connector plug. Your original turn signal canceller unit WILL operate properly with this style flasher, and this unit does not require the use of the HCP16880 adapter plug. Will require the fabrication of a mounting method as the original size grommet will not work.
$

 

They do flash slightly faster than stock ones but I'd say it's acceptable.
They flash regularly with the bike off as well as at idle speeds.

I haven't ridden it yet since I am still tuning the carbs but I did some revving and they do not seem affected.

The flasher relay I have is one marked as CF13 JL-02. Some cheap, chinese stuff of of ebay.

 

Thanks so much for all the great discussion and advice. In my case I ended up doing the zero effort solution and just reverted to good ole incandescent bulbs. I have to also replace the flasher unit but had an old bi-metal NOS in my shop that sorted it all out. After cleaning the lead to the neutral switch that also was resolved. The bike is back with its owner and in the road. I’ve attached a before and after. I known it’s a bit retro mod but that is what he wanted.